Spain Rents Carmen Thyssen Collection for €6.5M Annually

After a decade of tense negotiations, the Spanish government has signed a 15-year lease agreement with Carmen Cervera (Baroness Thyssen-Bornemisza) to keep her private collection of around 400 masterpieces at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid. The deal, finalized by Culture Minister José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes, pays the baroness €6.5 million per year, based on the collection's estimated value of €1.04 billion. The agreement also secures the return of Paul Gauguin's "Mata Mua," which was quietly exported two years ago. During the spring lockdown, Cervera reportedly moved four more works abroad to pressure the government. The collection, primarily 19th- and 20th-century paintings by artists such as Matisse, Monet, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Renoir, Pissarro, Rodin, Juan Gris, Kandinsky, Miró, Braque, Picasso, Bruegel the Elder, Canaletto, Fragonard, and Sargent, has been on loan since 2002. After 15 years, Spain will have first refusal on any sale, deducting rent paid. The ministry will also assist in curating Cervera's planned museum in San Feliu de Guíxols, Catalonia, where about a third of her works are already housed.